page_title: Trans World Airlines
section_title: 1950s: Trans World Airlines
hierarchical_section_title: Trans World Airlines / History / 1950s: Trans World Airlines
caption_attribution_description: Former Headquarters of Trans World Airlines (TWA)
context_page_description: Trans World Airlines was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with Ford Trimotors. With American, United, and Eastern, it was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930.
  Howard Hughes acquired control of TWA in 1939, and after World War II led the expansion of the airline to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, making TWA a second unofficial flag carrier of the United States after Pan Am. Hughes gave up control in the 1960s, and the new management of TWA acquired Hilton International and Century 21 in an attempt to diversify the company's business.
  As the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 led to a wave of airline failures, start-ups, and takeovers in the United States, TWA was spun off from its holding company in 1984. Carl Icahn acquired control of TWA and took the company private in a leveraged buyout in 1988.
context_section_description: On February 22, 1950, TWA signed a contract with the Glenn L. Martin Company for 12 Martin 2-0-2s and 30 Martin 4-0-4s.  The first plane was delivered on July 14, 1950.  TWA's Martin fleet was eventually increased to 53 planes, and they remained operational until 1961.  On May 17, 1950, the airline officially changed its name to Trans World Airlines.  On December 5, 1950, TWA ordered 10 Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellations, which were delivered in 1952.  On October 19, 1953, TWA offered nonstop transcontinental service.
  TWA's flight operations were based at Kansas City Municipal Airport, while their overhaul base was located at Fairfax Airport.  When the Great Flood of 1951 destroyed the facility, the city of Kansas City helped TWA build a new facility on 5000 acres, 18 miles (29 km) north of downtown at what became Kansas City International Airport.
  On July 10, 1953, TWA ordered 20 Lockheed 1049Es, which was later changed to be 1049Gs.  They were put in service on April 1, 1955.  On September 25, TWA introduced multiple class service, first and economy.  On October 30, they inaugurated their Los Angeles to London route, via New York.
  On December 23, 1954, the Hughes Tool Co. ordered 25 Lockheed L-1449 turboprops.  On March 29, 1955, this order was changed to piston-powered L-1649As.  Hughes transferred the planes to TWA in 1956, after receiving Civil Aeronautics Board approval.  The first L-1649A was delivered on May 4, 1957.  Fully reclining seats were later added to the plane.
  In February 1956, Hughes Tool Co. placed an order with Pratt & Whitney for 300 jet engines, JT-3s and JT-4s.  On March 2, 1956, Hughes Tool Co. placed an order for 8 domestic Boeing 707s, later increased to 15 planes on January 10, 1957, and an order for 18 international 707s on 19 March 1956, bringing the total order with Boeing to 33 jet planes.  Then on June 7, 1956, Hughes placed an order for 30 Convair 880 Skylarks.  TWA suffered from its late entry to the jet age, and Hughes' 1956 order cost $497 million. The transaction ultimately resulted in Hughes losing control of the airline.
  In 1958, TWA became the first major airline to hire an African American flight attendant, hiring Margaret Grant after another African American woman, Dorothy Franklin of Astoria, Queens, New York, filed a lawsuit alleging "that she had been discriminated against 'because of poor complexion ... unattractive teeth' and legs that were 'not shapely.'" New York governor W. Averell Harriman praised her hiring, saying the action "would raise American prestige abroad."
  Charles Sparks Thomas became president on July 2, 1958.  The inaugural flight of TWA's Boeing 707 took place on March 20, 1959.
caption: The TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building in Kansas City, Missouri with TWA Moonliner II atop its southwest corner from 1956–62 replicating the TWA Moonliner Tomorrowland attraction at Disneyland
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